Wednesday, April 25, 2007

What's So Funny?

If this is a humour blog, why is it called 'Popular Fiction'?

What's so funny about popular fiction? Nothing really. The title is actually a play on words. I believe that truth is stranger (and more funny) than fiction. The humour articles I post here are all true stories, not fiction. I believe that funny stories are popular. It's my hope that the humour articles I post here will all be popular too (and funny). Also I don't expect my readers to believe that these stories are true, since they are often so outrageous that no one can believe them. But that's half of what makes them funny. Part of you wants to believe that what you're reading is true, which makes it funny. Part of you wants to believe that what you're reading is fiction, so it's OK to laugh, which also makes it funny.

Now do you see why I called my humour blog, 'Popular Fiction'?

There is a second reason too. My favorite thing to read is popular fiction. It's also my favorite thing to write. To me, popular fiction should entertain the reader; teaching the reader something is secondary. To me, literature should teach the reader something; entertainment is secondary. That's my opinion. I don't claim to truly understand the difference between popular fiction and literature, I'm just saying that I enjoy reading popular fiction a lot more than I enjoy reading literature. So books that are considered popular fiction are of great interest to me.

So, what can a regular reader of "Popular Fiction", the blog expect?

Humour Articles: Every day I will post a new humour article. Hopefully you'll find it funny, or at least entertaining. Subjects will include my family, mishaps on family vacations, accidents, moments of stupidity, moments of brilliance and other incidents from my life (and the lives of my friends and family) that I find funny.

News Items: These short posts, called "This Just In" are in no way breaking news. They are trivial and often silly. They are my attempt to sift through all the bad news and find something funny or interesting, that's not too heavy or thought-provoking. I will link to the original articles whenever possible. If I don't find something funny or amusing on any given day, then there won't be a "This Just In" post.

Author Reviews: These (hopefully) weekly articles will feature a review of a single author and his or her body of work, rather than a single book. I will explain exactly what it is I like about the author's work, which books I particularly enjoyed and where the reader should begin if they've never read the author's books before.